Child takes silver behind Kaliese Spencer in 400m hurdles

Eilidh Child took silver in the 400m hurdles on Thursday night. A standing ovation of 40,000 clapped and stamped her around her victory lap after the poster girl for this games won a second Commonwealth medal to add to the one she took in Delhi four years ago.

It was not the gold she had hoped for and so Scotlandâ€™s 20-year wait for that particular metal goes on. But it was the high point of a great night for the home nationsâ€™ women and for a crowd who have proven themselves more than generously inclined towards their southerly neighbours. Childâ€™s race had always been going to be the main show but the dramatic entrance of young English talent stole several scenes and brought medals galore.

David Rudisha stays humble after Nijel Amos storms to 800m gold

There have been many fine athletes at these Commonwealth Games, and many fine races too. But nothing like this: the two best 800m athletes of their generation thrashing it out in the final straight, the outcome in doubt until the last metres when Botswanaâ€™s Nijel Amos finally downed the Olympic and world record holder, David Rudisha. No wonder the Hampden roar lingered.

But defeat did not diminish Rudisha. Quite the opposite. He hugged Amos, and told him â€œWell done my brotherâ€ before going on a lap of honour with his Kenyan team-mates. If there was disappointment, it was well disguised, smiling at the crowd as he received a standing ovation.

There were echoes of a swollen Muhammad Ali after his first professional defeat to Joe Frazier, winking at the hundreds of fans that had converged on his hotel, determined to show light on his darkest day. The bruises last night were to Rudishaâ€™s record not his face. But like Ali he will be back.

â€œIt wasnâ€™t so bad,â€ he insisted. â€œI am happy to have done and achieved that despite the fact that I would have wished to do better and maybe win the gold medal. Nijel is a tough competitor and he was good tonight. But we really love this place and it has been a great championships â€“ the crowd were fantastic.â€

Danish-born Kiwi Linda Villumsen dug deep in the final stages to pip Emma Pooley to win time-trial gold in Glasgow

It was not the gold she was hoping for but Emma Pooley said she was â€œthrilledâ€ to have bowed out of her final competitive time trial with silver at the Commonwealth Games, paying tribute afterwards to those who have supported her through a career in which she was a consistent force both on and off the bike.

The 31-year-old, who retires after Sundayâ€™s road race to focus on triathlons and other endurance events, was pipped, agonisingly, by New Zealandâ€™s Danish-born rider Linda Villumsen on a damp Glasgow course. Australiaâ€™s Katrin Garfoot took the bronze.

Villumsen was nine seconds behind Pooley at the final time check but managed to finish six seconds ahead. The Englishwoman, though, said she had no regrets.

â€œYou canâ€™t be frustrated when you have done your best,â€ she shrugged. â€œLinda deserves the credit for a fantastic race. Iâ€™m not upset. Iâ€™m thrilled to have a medal.â€

England’s Alex Dowsett won gold in the time trial in Glasgow four years after taking the silver medal in Delhi

Alex Dowsett admitted missing out on the Tour de France spurred him on to Commonwealth gold in the individual time trial, following a courageous display born out of â€œanger and disappointmentâ€ from the England rider.

Dowsett clocked 47min 41.78sec over the 38.4km course on the roads of Glasgow to take gold ahead of the Australian Rohan Dennis and Walesâ€™s Geraint Thomas, just weeks after being omitted from the Tour by Movistar owing to illness.

The 25-year-old was forced to produce a stunning finish after trailing Dennis by more than five seconds with 6km remaining but he overturned the deficit in remarkable fashion and his margin of victory was, in the end, comfortable at 9.30sec.

â€œI had a point to prove to myself, I know I was worthy of that Tour place, I was unlucky when I got ill,â€ said Dowsett, who won silver in this event at Delhi 2010. â€œI donâ€™t hold anything against my team for not taking me. If I was my team manager I wouldâ€™ve probably not taken me as well.

Greg Rutherford added Commonwealth long jump gold to his Olympic title to claim England’s first athletics gold of these Glasgow Games.

Rutherford, who won silver in Delhi four years ago, had an epidural injection in the build-up to make it to qualifying after pulling out of the Diamond League event here with injury.

But after his first round 8.12 metres was matched by South Africa’s Zarck Visser, his championship pedigree told as he produced a third round 8.20m to snatch a lead that none of his rivals could threaten.

Rutherford, who has endured a difficult time since London 2012 – struggling with hamstring injuries, losing his kit sponsor and failing to qualify for the World Championship final a year ago – used the support of a home crowd as well as he had two years ago on a cool night far from ideal for jumping.

“It’s never an easy road, and after what happened last year with injury I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to carry on jumping. But now I’ve managed to win another title and that’s what it’s all about for me,” he told BBC Sport afterwards.

“I think a lot of people had written me off thinking I was a one-hit wonder. But I wanted to prove I could do it again.

Third straight Commonwealth triumph for Caribbean island while English sprinter stays just outside 10-second barrier after beating Nickel Ashmeade in to third place

So, the Jamaican supremacy in Commonwealth 100 metres finals continues, as Kemar Bailey-Cole brought a third straight triumph for the Caribbean island with a brilliant run for gold in 10 seconds dead, but this was a night that also marked the coming of age for Englandâ€™s Adam Gemili.

The 20-year-old had stated that his ambition was simply to reach the final but he did better, far better, in claiming a silver medal that suggests his longer-team target of winning a medal at the Rio Olympics in 2016 is very much intact.

At just 22, Bailey-Cole has understood his capacity to be a superstar ever since he formed part of Jamaicaâ€™s triumphant sprint relay team at London 2012, and duly confirmed it with this fabulous display. Coach Glen Mills has billed him as the countryâ€™s next pre-eminent star, even drawing the first tentative comparisons with Usain Bolt.

But Gemili deserved immense praise for the way he split the Jamaican triumvirate of Bailey-Cole, Nickel Ashmeade and Jason Livermore to finish second after a lightning-fast start. His time of 10.10 sec might mean he is still to break the elusive 10-second barrier, but on his present trajectory that, too, must surely come soon.